Atlético confirm Cani loan deal

Veteran midfielder joins from Villarreal until the end of the season

Atlético Madrid have today confirmed the signing of Villarreal midfielder Cani on loan for the remainder of the season.

The 33 year-old playmaker joins after eight years with the Yellow Submarine, and will be at the Vicente Calderón until June 30th.

His signing comes as something of a suprise having been unreported by any of the usual news outlets, but boosts our attacking options following the departure of Alessio Cerci to Milan.

Full name Rubén Gracia Calmache, Cani came through the ranks at local club Zaragoza before moving to Villarreal in 2006, for whom he scored 33 goals in 324 matches in all competitions.

Sporting director José Caminero was full of praise for the club’s latest signing upon the confirmation of his signature.

“[Cani] is a player who brings tremendous quality as well as experience in our league, and will increase competitiveness within the group,”

“He is used to taking on great responsibility and we are very happy to have him. We believe he can contribute a lot to the team at this crucial stage in the season.”

Many have speculated that his arrival could signify the exit of one of our other midfielders, namely Cristian Rodríguez, Saúl or Mario Suárez.

The latter in particular has been linked with various moves in the last couple of the days, and all three have suggested that they would be happier if playing more often.

Cani’s signing is the second for Atleti during the January transfer window, after Fernando Torres joined on loan from Milan last week.

atletico- palestine

I see this move as a very smart and needed one.. cani will be back up for Koke in specific he is a midfielder that can take the role of play maker which cristian rodriguez or raul garcia will not do it.
At this moment fighting for 3 trophies we need this depth in squad.

Well, he ain’t Marco Reus (as we keep reading that he is coming to Atleti), but he could be this season’s Jose Sosa, the Argentine played just 450 minutes in La Liga, but his 6 assists were vital for wining the title
or he could be Diego Ribas, who didn’t do what we expected from him, but his “golazo”against Barca helped us to keep going in the CL, and among the 40 goals Cani scored through his club career, there were a couple of great golazos, hopefully he could score some with us when we need them

and doesn’t he looks -at least a little bit- like our Captain Gabi ?!
I’ve always seen that resemblance, especially when they have the same haircut, and now when both are in the same team I guess many people will see it